Grim Prospects | 01
Two campers go missing while prospecting for gold in the Western Australian outback.
Jun 01, 2023•41 min
Background Briefing
Background Briefing brings you true stories not everyone will want you to hear.
Episodes
The woman who offers one last chance for an Australian visa
Australia's migrant workers can wait for years to find out whether they can stay here, and while they do they can become targets for opportunistic operators offering a short cut.
May 25, 2023•41 min
Remy was 12 when she became a drug dealer
As a teenager, Remy learnt to survive by hustling on the streets of Parramatta.
May 20, 2023•36 min
The Fine Print
The consumer genetic testing industry has become big business.
May 11, 2023•42 min
Prisoner of the State
In a nursing home lives an elderly man who is being held against his will.
Mar 23, 2023•41 min
The Psychedelic Rush
Reporters Geoff Thompson and Annika Blau investigate how Australia became the first country to give scripts for trips.
Mar 17, 2023•37 min
Dead Man's Secrets | 02
In the second and final episode of Dead Man's Secrets, reporter Josh Robertson investigates the grisly murder of the powerful Papuan executive who negotiated one of Australia’s biggest foreign assistance packages.
Mar 09, 2023•32 min
Dead Man's Secrets | 01
A shocking murder takes place in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea.
Mar 02, 2023•33 min
How the system failed to save Darcey and Chloe | 02
When two infants die after being left inside a hot car, their family seek answers to how this could have happened.
Feb 23, 2023•32 min
How the system failed to save Darcey and Chloe | 01
Queensland authorities failed to heed multiple serious warnings that a young pair of sisters were in danger, before it was too late.
Feb 15, 2023•39 min
The psychiatrist and his star patient
Kate thought she'd finally found a psychiatrist who cared about her.
Feb 09, 2023•37 min
Under the Eye of Iran | 02
Massoud was heading to a protest outside Tehran's embassy in Canberra when a phone call confirmed his worst fears had come true.
Feb 03, 2023•38 min
Under the Eye of Iran | 01
Protesters say they're being ordered to read false confessions and their activities are under surveillance.
Jan 26, 2023•37 min
The tiny device that can cause huge pain
It's one of the most effective forms of contraception available.
Jan 19, 2023•38 min
Summer Season | Meet the teens at the frontline of organised crime
There's a violent territorial dispute between rival gangs in Sydney’s west.
Jan 12, 2023•39 min
Summer Season | Catching a Fugitive | 02
Charles Batham has been in hiding for years, and after two narrow escapes the trail goes cold. Then, reporter Erin Parke gets a tip-off that that brings the global investigation back from the brink – but will the truth ever come out about Batham’s dark past?
Jan 05, 2023•40 min
Catching a fugitive | part 1
A tall, eccentric Englishman with a secret double life flees Australia. For nine years he remains on the run. What he doesn't know is that two Australian women are tracking his movements from afar. Reporter Erin Parke was one of them.
Dec 29, 2022•35 min
Summer Season | Is getting quality care at medicinal cannabis clinics just pot luck?
When Jordan wanted to treat his insomnia, he turned to an experimental therapy: medicinal cannabis.
Dec 22, 2022•41 min
Summer Season | Kidnapping the Gods | 02
Precious artefacts looted from Cambodia and Thailand made their way into prominent collections here in Australia, and around the world. In the second and final episode of his investigation, Mario Christodoulou investigates why it’s taking so long for these precious works to be returned to their rightful home.
Dec 15, 2022•41 min
Summer Season | Kidnapping the Gods | 01
Many ancient Cambodian artifacts arrived in Australia during the 1960s and 1970s, when the south east Asian country was in turmoil. Mario Christodoulou investigates how some had come from looted historic sites or passed through the hands of suspected smugglers, and now feature in major galleries around the world.
Dec 08, 2022•44 min
The little-known religious code ruling many major public hospitals
Did you know that some of Australia’s largest public hospitals are run according to a religious code of ethics?
Dec 01, 2022•40 min
Has the age of AI already begun?
There’s new mind-bending technology that creates immersive media from scratch.
Nov 24, 2022•40 min
Pain in Paradise 02 | Byron's Thin Blue Line
Five years ago, a confronting video of a violent police encounter shocked the Byron Bay community.
Nov 19, 2022•38 min
Pain in Paradise 01 | What happened in Lateen Lane?
In one dark Byron Bay back alley, a series of baton strikes changes a teenager's life.
Nov 11, 2022•40 min
Under the Eye of Iran
Protesters say they're being ordered to read false confessions and their activities are under surveillance.
Nov 04, 2022•37 min
The tiny device that can cause huge pain
It's one of the most effective forms of contraception available.
Oct 27, 2022•37 min
Is the AFLW ready for Tiwi magic?
AFL superstars like Cyril Rioli and Michael Long forged their talents there.
Oct 20, 2022•38 min
A far-right troll's journey from an Ipswich bedroom to global infamy
Note: this episode was originally broadcast in July 2021 and it contains explicit language and confronting themes.
Oct 13, 2022•37 min
Is getting quality care at medicinal cannabis clinics just pot luck?
When Jordan wanted to treat his insomnia, he turned to an experimental therapy: medicinal cannabis.
Oct 08, 2022•41 min
Faulty Towers 02 | 'The scummiest landlord in the state'
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following program contains references to a deceased Indigenous Australian.
Sep 29, 2022•38 min